Go there early. When I say early, I mean, really early, even if it means getting up at 5 am on a Sunday morning and teasing the stakes of ruining your mood for the next 12 hours. It is good to be there shortly after it opens for trade (i.e. 6 am at the latest if it opens at 5 am), since professional dealers go there themselves early to get the best stuff available.
You may consider looking at a map / weather forecast / take good shoes / a survival kit -- if you're foolish enough for not considering any of the above-mentioned precautions, you may find yourself arriving a good hour later than expected -- which would considerably ruin your chances to find anything of interest.
Take cash with you (I still don’t know what to think of sellers who have credit card facilities), but not much; that will prevent you from making any unreasonable purchase.
Walk nonchalantly through the stalls, a hand in your pocket, the other one scratching your chin (or eyebrow, or picking your nose, whatever), in a dilettante-ishly unconcerned fashion. Walk through the whole market once, to determine quality display from utter crap, scandalously overpriced stuff from out-of-the-attic mess. When your inner-radar has spotted something of interest, calmly (I said calmly), an eyebrow raised and the lips clasped tightly around that toothy smile of yours contained with extreme difficulty (showing your sudden enthusiasm would ruin anything), make a move towards the Miraculous Stall.
Look –blatantly- carefully at the stuff you’ve seen (and preferably at the stuff around too), weight it, pounce it, pinch it, gauge it, measure it… whatever you may think off (although if you sniff it the dealer might find you a wee-bit weird) – that’s to show you’re not a desperately ignorant buyer ready to shed pounds for the most miserable glittery old-ish looking piece of rag, that you may even have a slight idea of what may be that wonderfully obscurely mysterious stuff you’re looking at. To enhance that connoisseur effect, you can also, while you handle the item and observe it from all its sides, frown slightly [meaning either appreciation or disappointment; in both cases, the dealer will be eager to sell the stuff].
Then, put it aside for a while [but close enough so you can stop any inopportune hand from snatching it], displaying sudden disinterest - indecisiveness is crucial to bring the price down – and look at other stuff, intermittently going back to the item with little sighs every now and then.At this moment, the dealer is ready to welcome your (fake) naïve look while you ask ‘tell me what you know about this [insert appropriate name]’. That’s to see to what extent he/she is trying to fool you / tell the truth (pretty unlikely, especially if he/she starts by ‘do you want the truth?’ – then, beware); but also, if it’s a very lucky day, the Moon is in full connection with Mars and Venus is overlooking the Sun, a Comet rushes in the sky and a squirrel pees on your shoes, then you may expect with some hope that you’re being told the truth, and that this truth contains useful information about the item. Use facial signals to show the extent of your incredulity, then carry on looking at other stuff (lips pinched with annoyance / boredom / whatever you find suitable]. When you judge you’ve left enough time for the dealer to ponder how knowledgeable you really are, asked for the price in a detachedly bored tone.
Good Luck
[N.B: You'll probably, like me, end up going home with crap worth less than peanuts, but that's the fun and the risks of the trade, innit?]
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